John Farrell didn’t want to move Mookie Betts from the outfield, but with second baseman Dustin Pedroia shut down for the season and utility man Brock Holt out with a concussion, the Boston Red Sox manager had no choice.

The 21-year-old Betts, who is a second baseman by trade, will get his first major league start at his old position against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. Farrell said this change could stick for a while, as he’s still being wary of moving Betts around too much.

“As much as I said before about not moving him out of center field, here we are putting him at second base,” Farrell said. “I want to minimize the amount of back and forth. I think just in fairness to him, that would be the approach, and as we get additional players to us and trying to get a number of guys rotated through two outfield spots, it kind of points towards Mookie remaining at second base.”